g, seventh letter of the . The history of this letter began with the . The from which, through , the Latin was derived, represented the voiced velar stop by its third letter gamma (Γ). This passed into Latin and was used in its rounded form C to represent the same sound, as in the word recei (probably an early dative form of rex, “king”), occurring in an early Latin inscription. The letter, however, came to represent the unvoiced velar stop, thus ousting K. This was probably due to Etruscan influence. To avoid confusion a new letter G was differentiated from C and used to represent the voiced velar, while C henceforward stood for the unvoiced velar only. The new letter was placed in the alphabet in the place of Greek zeta (Ζ) which was not required in the Latin alphabet.Carolingian calligraphy(more)The form of the letter in the 6th and 7th centuries was a transitional form between C and G. The form with a rounded head, from which the modern minuscule g is derived, appears first in Latin cursive about the beginning of the 7th century, taking the place of earlier forms. A minuscule flat-headed form was adopted by Irish writing of the 6th and 7th centuries, and such a form had been in use in Latin cursive from the 5th through the 8th century. A form appears in Merovingian (pre-Carolingian French) writing in the 8th century, and a descendant of this was adopted into the .The flat-headed form was adopted by the early English hand from the Irish and remained the only form of the letter in use in England until the introduction of Carolingian writing by Norman scribes in the 12th century. Meanwhile, certain changes had taken place in the sound represented by the letter. The voiced velar had become palatalized before the front vowels e and i. Thus the flat-headed form of the letter, the only form in use in pre-Norman England, represented the velar before back vowels, the palatal before front vowels. It also stood for the sound now represented by y initially before front vowels. In the developed into the sound now represented by j, a similar change having taken place in the development of the Latin velar on the continent. This sound was therefore introduced to English ears by the Normans, and in the Middle English period the two forms of the minuscule letter were in use to represent different sounds. The round-headed form represented the voiced velar (modern “hard” g) and the sound of j, while the flat-headed form represented the palatal stop and the sound of y. As the palatal stop (in such words as might, high, or enough) disappeared from the , the use of the flat-headed form was discontinued. It survived in remote parts, and by its similarity to the form of z produced confusion with the latter., Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for., Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access..